FilmIndia (1945)

January, 1945 FILMTNDIA beautiful objects, the objective method is used. But when an individual opinion is to be expressed on someone or something beautiful, the human mind can't escape being subjective, even though the background of objective judgment is present constantly at the back of the mind. The influence of beauty is never institutional, it is always individual. What is considered beautiful in China is not endorsed in India. Similarly, what is beautiful to one mind may not prove as beautiful to another. K. S. KADAM (Palghar) Producers like V. Shantaram should not produce pictures like "P. P. A. Dera". There is nothing progressive in that picture. You are right. It is rather strange that Shantaram, who always claims being progressive in his views and work, should have given such a reactionary stuff as "P. P. A. Dera". Half of the story is pure humbug and the bathos of ridicule is reached when the hero starts pulling at the bell-rope to get his eye-sight back. "Shahenshah Babar", a good subject, was ruined by bad direction. Doesn't this prove that Ranjit should look out for good directors? This has been a chronic complaint with Ranjit and Chandulal Shah has been constantly on the lookout. But after a long search, the poor fellow got a female-voiced male director in Kedar Sharma who gave "Arman" and "Vish Kanya" and a panchewing Miyan in Wajahat Mirza who did "Babar". Add to these H.M.V. Chaturbhuj Doshi and you will feel like sympathising with Chandulal. We hardly have any professional motion picture directors and good ones are not yet born. How far does a superiority-complex help a person in his work? In work itself there can't be any superiority-complex. Work needs confidence, sometimes in an overwhelming quantity. With success a person develops a superiority-complex and it is justified because he has beaten the others out of field. Miss M. SUKHTHANKAR (Bombay) Would you call Ragini beautiful? Some Hindi magazines say that she is the most beautiful among Indian stars? Never mind what the Hindi fellows say. They often say what the producers want them to say. Ragini has pretty attractive eyes, but her features are Amazonian and we cannot call her beautiful. Aren't we taught that a woman must be soft and delicate to be termed beautiful? How is that Meena has not become popular and known to the public inspite of a pretty face and a good figure? Meena looks pretty in life but not in a picture. Besides what chance can the poor girl get in Minerva where Sohrab Modi competes with every one including the heroine. We must not forget that Sohrab is an actor first and a producer afterwards, according to his own confession. Mehtab has good eyes but she doesn't lift them much in her pictures. Why? Probably because every time she lifts them she sees Sohrab Modi standing right in front. And that's not much to see. Why does Sohrab Modi think that Mehtab is the only good artiste we have on the Indian screen? He doesn't 'think' so, he only 'says' so. And 'saying' is often for publicity. You must remember that Sohrab is a shrewd and successful producer and there must be a big gulf between his thoughts and words. K. RAMACHANDRAN (Matunga) Manorama, the "Khazanchi" girl, is looking awfully fat nowadays. What a sight she presents in the Punjabi costume? Yes, Manorama has always been on the biggish side, but nowadays she is making herself a big problem for two eyes. The other day I saw her at the Races in Bombay and wondered whether I could feed some of my lean horses on Manorama's rations. She was all the vitamins from A to Z. And that Punjabi costume brings out Vitamin 'B' too effectively. Which person suffers most in life, the conventional or the unconventional? The conventional person is usually a coward. His strength is hypocrisy. His finer senses are usually dead and through a life-time he acquires a good thick skin which he needs to parry the shafts of society. The conventional person is a pillar of modern society. He doesn't suffer much berau'e he is in majority and his community supports him by collateral hypocrisy. The unconventional person is usually nearer nature being emotional and creative in thought. He is a rebel to the world and naturally becomes an easy target of society. And though he often suffers in material values of life, he secures greater peace of mind and happiness than the conventional one who is constantly looking out for approval from others. Miss A. TYEBJI (Bombay) Is it good to be ambitious in lite? What else can you do in life than be ambitious to reach somewhere unless you wish to go to an unknown grave with a few family frogs shedding some crocodile tears which dry no sooner they turn their back on your last remains? Does extreme sensitiveness indicate a highly artistic nature? Have you seen a razor blade? Isn't it an extremely sharp affair, likely to acquire a dent with the least resistance? The human mind is like that. The more you sharpen it and the more sensitive >ou make it, the quicker it acquires the dents of life, be they artistic, economic, romantic or tragic. If the bent of mind is towards art, an extremely sensitive mind will make the person a great artist. 15